Volquez no-hit bid fails in loss to Dodgers

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Edinson Volquez reacts to a safe call by first base umpire Marty Foster on a would-be inning-ending double play against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fifth inning of a baseball game in San Diego, Saturday, June 22, 2013. The Dodgers scored a run on the play. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
— AP

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Edinson Volquez reacts to a safe call by first base umpire Marty Foster on a would-be inning-ending double play against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fifth inning of a baseball game in San Diego, Saturday, June 22, 2013. The Dodgers scored a run on the play. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
/ AP

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There was no collarbone-shattering collision Saturday at Petco Park, where a sellout crowd settled for watching Edinson Volquez chase Padres history.

The oftentimes erratic, occasionally brilliant right-hander ended up being chased from the game. Native son Adrian Gonzalez delivered the real crusher, a sixth-inning home run that ended Volquez’s no-hit bid, and the Dodgers went on to claim a 6-1 defeat of the Padres before 43,267.

Friday's win over the Dodgers moved the Padres into second in the National League West, a first this season. Saturday’s loss bounced them back to third, a half-game behind San Francisco in what has been a tightly contested divisional race.

The Padres’ eight-game home winning streak was snapped as their bats went silent against Greinke, even as the last-place Dodgers’ offense eventually awakened.

Gonzalez’s home run, a solo shot to center, led off a four-run sixth by the Dodgers.

"I think he was looking for that pitch," Volquez said of Gonzalez. "I was pitching away the whole game. He's a great hitter. "

Until then, the Dodgers had been held to one debatable run.

After recording an out to open the fifth, Volquez walked three consecutive batters. The last two, A.J. Ellis and Greinke, both received ball-four calls that could have been strike three.

Skip Schumaker then grounded into what appeared to be a 4-6-3 double play but, upon diving headlong into the first-base bag, was ruled safe by umpire Marty Foster.

Juan Uribe scored from third on the play for a 1-0 Dodgers lead, eliminating the possibility of a shutout. Volquez, though, fanned Yasiel Puig to keep his no-hit bid, albeit one sullied by a run, intact.

"It changed the whole plan," Volquez said of the multiple close calls. "We didn't get a call, so you have to go to another pitch.

"That missed play, too, at first, and that could've been a different story."

Volquez's fastball was biting throughout the first four innings.

"His stuff was good," Padres manager Bud Black said. "He pitched a lot with the fastball today, more so than previous starts where he utilized the curve and the changeup more, but the fastball had life and good movement. They had a lot of swing-throughs on the fastball, but he and Greinke were going at it inning by inning and then the Dodgers broke through."

Of course, the Padres were not helped by a sloppy defensive performance, rare for this bunch. In the sixth, Gonzalez’s homer preceded a sharp grounder that was mishandled by shortstop Pedro Ciriaco, allowing two runs to score. Catcher Yasmani Grandal added an error of his own later in the inning.

"The errors really aren't our game," Black said. "Our defense has been solid, but this is a game played by human beings. It's going to happen."

A walk, the seventh issued by Volquez, led to his replacement by Brad Boxberger, who was recalled from Triple-A Tucson earlier Saturday.

Ellis, who had reached base on Ciriaco’s error, scored the Dodgers’ fourth run of the inning on Schumaker’s single.

Volquez was tagged for five runs — two earned — on two hits and the seven walks in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out seven, at one point retiring 10 straight batters. The next, Juan Uribe, drew the first walk in the fifth, and that’s where Volquez’s troubles began.

"I think just the fastball got away from him a little bit," Black said. "He pitched so well with the fastball going in to that inning."

In the seventh, Hanley Ramirez provided the final margin with a home run off Boxberger.

Overshadowed by Volquez’s failed quest for the first no-hitter by a Padre was the tension inherent in the first on-field meeting between Greinke and Quentin since April 11.

Quentin, returning to the lineup after missing seven games with a sore left shoulder, went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts against Greinke, who never came close to even grazing the Padres left fielder.

“I would be shocked if Zack hit him on purpose,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said before the game. “We’re at a point where we need Zack to go deep into the game and put a win on the board.”

The Dodgers got what they needed Saturday. Greinke, who didn't allow a hit until a Chase Headley single in the fourth, surrendered his only run in the eighth, on a double by Jesus Guzman.

Over eight innings, Greinke yielded four hits while striking out eight.